Firm News

is a personal injury firm serving Indianapolis. Welcome to our legal blog, where we will share more educational content soon.

In prior discussions, we’ve touched on the topics of federal jurisdiction and on removing putative class actions from state court to federal court. We have not, however, dedicated much time to talking about the process of removal in general. Last week, the Second Circuit handed down its decision in that provides us such an opportunity. Before we delve into Taylor…

The question of who is the right person or entity to bring a claim can be a complicated issue. Take, for example, claims under the Indiana Wrongful Death Statutes. If the claim arises under the General or Adult Wrongful Death Statutes, then an estate must be opened on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries of the decedent. If, however, the claim…

A little more than a month ago, we briefly noted that the Indiana Supreme Court had accepted two certified questions from the Seventh Circuit that sought to explore the meaning of “Patient” as applied in the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act. Today, we examine the Indiana Supreme Court’s answer to one of the questions and consider whether the concurring opinion should…

Over the last decade on the Hoosier Litigation Blog, the perennial champion for most-read post has been Federal Diversity Jurisdiction and the “Gaping Hole Problem”. At the core of that discussion is the statute that establishes diversity jurisdiction in federal courts: 28 U.S.C. § 1332. It has long been my belief that the post was as heavily trafficked as it…

We have discussed the nuances of the governing standards for summary judgment in both Indiana and federal courts. We have even examined the propriety of filing a reply brief in support of summary judgment within an Indiana state court. We have not, however, addressed what happens when a party fails to timely respond to a motion for summary judgment. Courtesy…

Today, we once more travel the increasingly well-worn path of examining the question of when a business proprietor owes a duty to patrons to prevent harm caused by activities on the premises. We last discussed the topic following the Indiana Supreme Court’s opinion in Cavanaugh’s Sports Bar & Eatery, Ltd. v. Porterfield. The primary question in this area of law…

Today, we focus primarily on an opinion handed down last week by the Seventh Circuit in Flores v. City of South Bend, which provided tremendous insight into the question of when may a police department be held liable for the utterly reckless conduct of an officer who causes an automobile wreck by unnecessarily driving at break-neck speeds down urban streets.…

This week, we take a quick peek at an aspect of Indiana appellate procedure that is easy to overlook but can completely short circuit an appeal. As we’ve discussed, there are two basic types of appeals in Indiana: appeals from final judgments and interlocutory appeals. For today, we focus on the procedure for bringing an interlocutory appeal. Those procedures are…

Last week, we discussed the numerosity requirement embodied in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(1) as the initial requirement for class certification. Numerosity, like commonality, typicality, and adequacy, is a requirement explicit in Rule 23(a). No matter what the type of class action, the four requirements of Rule 23(a) must be satisfied. As we previously addressed, once they are satisfied,…